Top 11 Quotes by Grantly Dick-Read

A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.

A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.

Grantly Dick-Read

Mothers Day, Baby, Food

Grantly Dick-Read (2006). “Childbirth Without Fear”, p.388, Pollinger in Print

The woman in labor must have NO STRESS placed upon her. She must be free to move about, walk, rock, go to the bathroom by herself, lie on her side or back, squat or kneel, or anything she finds comfortable, without fear of being scolded or embarrassed. Nor is there any need for her to be either "quiet" or "good."

Grantly Dick-Read

Stress, Lying, Moving

"Childbirth Without Fear: The Original Approach to Natural Childbirth".

It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. . . The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.

Grantly Dick-Read

Mother, Spiritual, Children

No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception

Grantly Dick-Read

Pregnancy, Birth, Painful

If left alone in labor, the body of a woman produces most easily the baby that is not interfered with by its mother's mind or the assistant's hand. If left alone, just courage and patience are required.

Grantly Dick-Read

Mother, Baby, Hands

Grantly Dick-Read (2006). “Childbirth Without Fear”, p.371, Pollinger in Print

Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware. To such a woman, childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory. She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.

Grantly Dick-Read

Uplifting, Spiritual, Memories

Male science disregards female experiences because it can never share them.

Grantly Dick-Read

Males, Female, Share

Fear can be overcome only by Faith.

Grantly Dick-Read

Overcoming, Birth, Birthing

Grantly Dick-Read (1950). “The birth of a child: obstetric procedure in normal chidbirth for those who attend women in labor”

It is as great a crime to leave a woman alone in her agony and deny her relief from her suffering as it is to insist upon dulling the consciousness of a natural mother who desires above all things to be aware of the final reward of her efforts, whose ambition is to be present, in full possession of her senses, when the infant she already adores greets her with its first loud cry and the soft touch of its restless body upon her limbs.

Grantly Dick-Read

Mother, Ambition, Agony

Grantly Dick-Read (2006). “Childbirth Without Fear”, p.274, Pollinger in Print